Some of Lady Gaga’s family members found out that she’d been raped at the same time as the rest of the world. With a powerful performance at the Oscars of Til It Happens To You, her song from college rape documentary The Hunting Ground, Gaga revealed to everyone watching that she’s a rape survivor. That audience included her own grandmother and Aunt.
“My grandmother (in the middle) and my Aunt Sheri (on the right) both called me the day after the Oscars because I never told them I was a survivor,” Lady Gaga shared on Instagram. “I was too ashamed. Too afraid.”
Gaga revealed that her religion played a role in her decision to keep silent. “[…] it took me a long time to even admit it to myself because I’m Catholic and I knew it was evil but I thought it was my fault. I thought it was my fault for ten years.” Now, she knows that couldn’t be further from the truth: “The morning after the Oscars when I talked to my grandmother Ronnie, with tears in her eyes I could hear them welling through the phone she said to me ‘My darling granddaughter, I’ve never been more proud of you than I am today. […] Something I have kept a secret for so long that I was more ashamed of than anything– became the thing the women in my life were the most proud of. And not just any women, the ones I look up to the most. #BeBrave #speakup #tilithappenstoyou.”
Lady Gaga after her Oscars performance; image: @ladygaga
With her inspirational story, Lady Gaga hopes to inspire other survivors to speak out and not feel ashamed of what happened to them. Judging from the outpouring of love and support in her comments, she is truly making a difference in the lives of sexual abuse survivors the world over.
